Session 56: Day 27: A Dreadful Evening Battle

We ate a quick dinner and determined that we needed to head out and back to Orlane for the night. As we paused to make a final survey of the room, Adelbertus noticed a light coming from the west and Calbach whispered that there was a large group of people approaching that looked like Band of the Black Hand. We quickly retreated inside and closed the door, which shut with a convincing click, and we could no longer hear anything outside the room. The darkness seemed to close in and shadows on the walls danced a little higher in the torchlight. As we sat to rememorize some spells, we were distracted by the gloom of the encroaching dungeon walls and it took a little longer than usual. “Safely” locked in there, we considered spending one last night in the Barrowmaze but eventually decided that would be foolish after the recent warnings not to do so. We determined to get back to Orlane. Since it was now over an hour since we had spotted the group with the torches, we used the key and Tatania’s knock spell to reopen the door. Peeking out, we could see what we thought to be a torch light reflecting off the walls to the east, but nothing else.

As we began filing out of the room in our marching order, Armaziti heard a sound behind him and turned to see a group of beetles with glowing antennae coming up quickly from behind. We all began to run and in the rush there a was a bit of confusion about where we were going. The rest of the group headed through the room to the west and turned down the hallway to the south, but Arnd and myself went past that hallway and were quickly overtaken by four beetles. I attacked one with my dagger, Vengeance, and did some damage, but Arnd swung and missed. More beetles had turned down the hallway following the rest of the group and Tatania hit one with a magic missile, Lhoss hit another with her dagger, and Armaziti quickly destroyed one with his warhammer, Melissa. Ronan swung at one but slipped in beetle gore and missed. Fortunately, Calbach shot an arrow that swished past Ronan and killed it. I swung at the beetle in front of me again, slicing its head right off, and this time Arnd connected as well. Some of the others then came back and began to attack the beetles that were on us. Calback shot another arrow and hit one as Lhoss swung and missed.

Just then, Armaziti yelled out that he could see yet another light coming toward us from the east. Anxious to take out the beetles quickly, Adelbertus slipped on some gore as he attacked, but Tatania shot another magic missile and destroyed the beetle he missed. Just then a large group of the Band of the Black Hand came running in, swinging their short swords and screaming that they were going to take everything we had! I counted eleven of them!

One attacked and missed Adelbertus but another hit him as two more attacked Tatania and injured her. Another entered the hallway where Armaziti was lurking, but missed him in the dark. Another pair of them jumped in to help that one and one hit the cleric as he was beginning to cast an attack spell, interrupting it. Tatania tried to hit the one in front of her and missed just as one of the two beetles that were attacking me managed to get in a bite and did some bad damage. Angry in the pain, I stabbed right through its chitinous head, killing it. Arnd—using what he keeps claiming is now his signature move—sliced the belly of the beetle in front of him, gutting it. Lhoss attacked one of the band with a magic missile and Calbach shot two arrows at the same but missed. Adelbertus quickly spun around and attempted to bash the two band members that were on his back, but also missed. One of them then hit him with their sword, knocking him unconscious as two of them attacked and hit Tatania, knocking her out as well.

The band pressed their attack, taunting the rest of us as they did, and we felt a fearful gloom settle in. Were we going to make it out of there alive?!? One of the band hit Armaziti, but those that attacked Ronan, Arnd and myself missed their attacks. Ronan threw a burning vial of oil and it hit a dungeon wall, splashing back and burning some of the Black Hand. Armaziti swung and missed one of his attackers just as I swung at the last beetle, slicing its head off. Arnd missed his attack yet again but as he did, Hilja, Kyro, and Adalaen suddenly appeared behind the band members we were fighting!

Encouraged by the sudden appearance of friends, Calbach grabbed his short sword, swung around, and attacked the bandit that was on Arnd, slaying him in one hit! Hilja immediately cast Faerie Fire on the three who were attacking Armaziti, bathing them in a purple glow and making them more vulnerable to attacks, and Adalean began throwing darts, nearly killing one of that group. Kyro quickly ran forward and bandaged Tatania, stopping her from bleeding out.

Armaziti swung and missed again, but Adalaen threw yet another dart, slaying that band member. Kyro then crawled over and bandaged Adelbertus, who was bleeding out in the middle of the hallway. As he did, Ronan backhanded one the the guys on him, then hit him in the head with his cudgel. Hoping to turn the tide of battle, I did my best to conjure a terrifying phantasm but apparently it wasn’t quite terrifying enough and none of the band believed my illusion. Curses! Calbach attacked the last guy on Arnd, killing him, and Arnd leaped forward in an attempt to kill one of them that was attacking Lhoss, but slipped on one of the beetles and missed his attack.

Back in the hallway, Adalaen continued throwing darts and hit another of the remaining two attacking Armaziti. The cleric turned to hold his shield against his attackers, but it was too late. They hit him and knocked him unconscious! The two attacking Ronan both managed to hit him again, but the two on Arnd and Lhoss missed. Adalean cast a magic missile, hitting one of the attackers on Armaziti just in time for Hilja to step forward and take him down with her staff. I screamed “Vengeance!” as I leapt on the back of another bandit that was pressing an attack on Calbach. The dagger plunged into the man's shoulder, taking him to his knees. Lhoss swung and missed just as Arnd attacked the other, finally scoring a hit with his broadsword, Bonesplitter.

His attackers vanquished, Ronan ran into the hallway to bandage Armaziti, and didn’t fail to notice Hilja there. He took his time, flexing as he twisted the bandages around the bleeding cleric and barely noticing another enemy who was still there and who took a swing at the distracted warrior. Ronan tried to retaliate but missed as Adalaen stepped forward and got in yet another hit with a dart.

Back in the other hall, two attackers remained standing, one on Lhoss and the other on Arnd. Lhoss took a final hit and fell, unconscious, as Kyro ran forward and attacked the other, hitting him from behind and taking him down. Angered to see Lhoss fall, I leapt on the back of her attacker, killing him. Calbach then sprinted out to Ronan’s defense and finished off the last of the band of attackers.

Exhausted from the battle, we dug through the bag of holding and used our one recently-discovered healing potion on Adelbertus. He immediately recovered but it appears his right knee is now so damaged that his ability to walk has been permanently slowed. Adelbertus in turn healed me, Tatania, and Lhoss, who also has a nasty gash in her side that looks permanent and will likely affect her ability to swing her weapon.

Anxious to get out of the Barrowmaze before anything else could attack us, we hurriedly built a stretcher for the bandaged but severely-injured and cursed Armaziti. He was beginning to mutter and twitch as if tortured by the undead. Terrified and running out to the dungeon entrance as quickly as we could, the group felt a shadow of fear come over us. We dragged ourselves and Armaziti as quickly as possible (which wasn’t all that fast) back to Orlane and over to the Temple of Merikka, arriving just before morning.

The guards must have been sleepy as they thought at first to turn us away, but we reminded them that we are the Saviors of Orlane and they scuttled off to fetch Priestess Misha. She soon came gliding out of the temple, looking a bit disheveled and sighed deeply as she examined poor Armaziti. Listening to our tale of the mummy’s curse, she pronounced that this was an untimely curse that would be a costly heal, but to leave him and come back tomorrow. I wondered if she was just irritable at being awakened so early, or if maybe she had been entertaining the Witcher in her quarters, but held my tongue.

Session 55: Day 27 Planting Afternoon

 The session began after lunch in the sacred room of Polis. These adventurers were present (in marching order): Yldarb, Ronan, Gnorcia, Tatania, Lhoss, Calbach, Armatzi, Adelbertus, and Chiki. The group examined some maps that Ronan and Gnorcia had worked hard on, and determined to go back to the door that had the trap that had poisoned Gnorcia. After Lhoss skillfully removed the needle, and examination of the door occured. The group remembered that they had forgotten to get the blessing of Polis, and they went back to get that blessing. Coming back to the door, Armatzi had a vision of a bat like figure in the room. Ronan attempted to use all the keys that Gnorcia had on the door without success. This was followed by some failed lock pick attempts by both Lhoss and Gnrocia. Armatzi, fearing some bane, cast protection from evil on himself. Tatania then cast knock on the door, and it opened. 

The group entered the room and found what appeared to be a horrible statue with bat-like wings on the north wall. There was also a sarcophagus on the southern wall. Armatzi opened the sarcophagus, and a horrid mummy pressed its attack on the group. The mummy took many hits from the group, and returned with several vile and powerful attacks on Armatzi, who was found to have become afflicted by the dread mummy curse. After several magic missiles and somewhat effective hits from magical weapons, fire was attempted, which proved effective, especially when combined with oil. The vile mummy was reduced to cinder after the application of oil and torch. 

Two valuable items were recovered: a gold scepter embedded with black opals, and a gold headband that had been on the mummy's head. The scepter had been left in the sarcophagus as it fought. Out of fear of the unknown, the party destroyed the bat like figure with a sledgehammer. It was demolished with one good swing. 

The group then came around to a section a bit to the west where they expected a room. They found a door with a picture of a book on it. They were ecstatic to find that, as Gnorcia had a key with a book on it as well. Interestingly, there were two key slots, and after close examination, the key holes did not look like normal keyholes - there were no grooves or cylinders, thus it could not be picked. In fact, the key was extraordinary as well. The key fit in either slot, but it would not turn. 

While this was all going on, some torchlight was seen moving at the west to the north. The group ignored that. A bit later, Calbach noticed a bag of something piled up against the wall of an adjoining open room. It was lumpy and full of something. Emptying it, he found weevils and old biscuit that smelled bad. During this time, some prayer and spell memorization occurred. Tatania attempted a knock spell and at the last moment, Gnorica decided to turn the key in synch. This was fortunate, as the door opened with the combined effect. 

Inside was a pedestal with a skull and a scroll. The room was filled with bottles of every shape, size, and color. The scroll proved to have 4 magic user spells: magic missile, rope trick, clairaudience, and tongues. Tatania's magic glasses of reading magic proved to be very useful in this case. The group started to search the bottles, and after a long an extensive search, several potions were found (and identified by old labels written in old common or other languages). They were poison, two poison antidote, a tincture of strength, oil of slipperiness, and healing. When the group first started searching, a phantom appeared and said "search ye for my treasure" and dissipated. Further searching attracted a small group of skeletons that the group quickly defeated. 

Session 54: Days 21-27 of Planting: Rumors and Rest Before Return to Action

Our weary band of adventurers spent a week in Orlane recovering and bolstering their spirits. Lhoss especially needed to recover from the fear that is instilled by the horrors of the Barrowmaze. As many of the group have formed trusted friendships with townsfolk, they were able to pick up several snippets of information and rumors, including:

• There is a rumor that there are mutated people in the Barrowmaze that enslave humans. There are also undead encroaching on the mist and farmland nearest to the tombs.
• We have been fortunate to be able to travel back and forth between Orlane and the Barrowmaze, since we have learned travel is nearly impossible during the seasons of late fall to early spring. Being on the brink of the season of Violets, even frequent travel should not be too difficult.
• Allen Clayborne expressed his great surprise and distress at learning that we regularly sleep (or attempt to sleep) in the Barrowmaze itself. He warned us that it is far too dangerous a place to spend the night. We balked at traveling 8 hours each way every day, but Allen and his wife informed us that there is a more direct path we could take that would cut the hike down to 4 hours.
• Dorian Llewelyn informed us that through his scouting and adventuring he heard of an elven maiden who had been freed from the Barrowmaze and returned to her clan. We have not encountered other noble adventurers in the tombs, but it is good to hear of others who seem to be engaged in a similar righteous cause.
• We heard a rumor from the land of Furyondy (a great kingdom to the West) that the prince has been kidnapped. The lore is that the lands of Furyondy, Verbobonc, and Veluna (whose people worship St. Cuthbert) banded together and combined armies to defeat the vile temple of Elemental Evil. But it appears that the temple was not destroyed and something was left behind. There is talk that the capture of Furyondy's prince is a counterstrike.
• Whisperings of a strange organizing of hill, stone, frost and fire giants. It is highly unusual for giants of different sorts to work together. There are stories of these giants raiding lands in the West.
• We hear more details about Nerul, the evil presence we have seen represented so much in the Barrowmaze. Apparently, Nerul was previously defeated by his two sons, Set and Orcus. Their followers, the acolytes of Orcus and the necromancers of Set, are bitter enemies who are centered in the Barrowmaze. There is a reward for information about these two groups.
• Lastly, Aramaziti had a possibly prophetic dream that the goblin we most recently encountered in the tomb has moved...

So our group of Ronan, Calbach, Gnorcia, Aramaziti, Adalean, Tatania, Arnd, and Lhoss stocked up on supplies and departed Orlane early on a clear summer morning, day 27 of Planting. 

Allen Clayborne led the group out of town and pointed out the new path we should take. It was clear that we would need to do a fair amount of bushwhacking, so we made a hasty trip back to buy two machetes. Rotating the lead so no two persons get overly exhausted, we spent 5-6 hours cutting through brush. Within another two hours, we were at the outskirts of the Dim Forest, 500 yards from where we had previously descended into the tombs. While this first trip took 8 hours, we can tell future travels will be much shorter.

Returning to the gloom of the Barrowmaze, the party retraced its steps to the place Gnorcia was poisoned. Armaziti suggested we look to see if his dream was true. In fact, the goblin was no longer posted in front of the door. Piercing the unnerving silence that is generally observed, we heard the sounds of battle coming from behind the door. Eager to see if we could lend a hand to what we hoped would be another group of adventurers, we all pressed forward. What we saw was a puzzling sight.

We came up behind a group that seemed to be led by a cross-bred orc. Gnorcia's query of "do you need help?" was met with an annoyed grunt. The group was facing off against combatants that included some zombies, so at first the thought was to fold into their ranks and aid them in the attack. But Armaziti quickly and keenly identified one side as cultists of Set while the other side were followers of Orcus. They were both our enemies! There were already casualties on both sides, but we were in the enviable position of being able to backstab the acolytes of Orcus and lob attacks at the necromancers of Set all while they battled each other. The battle did not take long once we set ourselves to our task. Both enemy groups were quickly defeated with Lhoss falling to a vicious attack from the zombies. She was restored by Aramaziti, but suffered an injury to her right hand that will continue to hamper her in attacks going forward.

Looting of the corpses produced some coins, a spell book, a chain with a skull symbol, and some various, unimpressive armaments. The bodies were tossed into a deep pit that was already the final resting place for some other poor souls. The group decided to retreat to the room of Polis to heal and rememorize spells.

Session 53: Day 20 of Planting continues

Party members who needed to re-memorize spells did so in the room with the plinth, and the rest of us moved the Band of the Black Hand bodies into the room where Tatania had previously spent a lot of time searching and finding nothing, and we went through their pockets. Ronan and Calbach had also reappeared and rejoined the group. As we prepared to leave and head back to Orlane, we were surprised to find that Yldarb had changed his mind and no longer wanted to go back. He seems to have established a psychic link with the spear, and worked out a way to use it. It was all a little confusing, with him mumbling to himself as we questioned him, but eventually we decided that would be okay. We all stood again on the plinth for a blessing from Polis, then headed east down the hallway.

Lhoss soon got quite excited because she could see doors ahead that we had not opened before. We passed two rooms that we had been in before, and the doors were still cracked open. Beyond that, we found a hallway to the north and a portcullis that was down. Looking through, we could see a dingy old curtain, yellow in color, hanging from a bar, and possibly something behind it. Six of us worked together and we were able to slowly lift the portcullis and move into the room.

As we moved toward the curtain, we recognized the yellow as yellow mold. Ronan—who had been closest to the gap in the center of the curtain—suddenly vanished! We couldn’t see him anywhere and couldn’t hear or find him anywhere in the room. We all decided to move carefully through the curtain to see if we could find Ronan. Lhoss managed to bump the yellow moldy curtain as she passed it, and a piece broke off and fell to the floor, but thankfully no one was damaged by the mold.

In the room, we found that there was a large mirror and inside it we could see two Ronans, fighting! We could tell which was the real Ronan because the other appeared to be undead, with rotting flesh. As we watched in horror, they battled and Ronan eventually vanquished his foe and reappeared before us as the mirror shattered into pieces. He fell to one knee, panting from his psychic battle with himself, and clearly hurting. Armaziti healed him and we turned to look at the rest of the room. There was nothing there except the curtains and the now-broken glass.

As Armaziti rested and rememorized spells, Chiki set Chick-Chick outside the curtain and then seemed to be making strange moves toward Yldarb. It was as if he was trying to behave like a thief, and failing miserably. I shook my head at him.

We moved back out of the room and beyond the portcullis, to the east. Lhoss spotted a door and was excited to open it. I also got excited because the door had a lock on it and I wanted to see if any of my keys opened it! As I inserted the first key, a needle appeared, pricking my finger and poisoning me! I immediately slumped and everything got very confusing.

It seemed as if Armaziti took off my boots and rubbed a bud of garlic on my feet before casting slow poison. That was certainly odd behavior, and the smell of garlic was strong. Then Lhoss wrapped me up and carried me over her shoulder like a bag of potatoes as everyone ran out of the barrowmaze and up through the marsh and the Dim Forest. It seemed warmer than our previous march toward the barrowmaze, but maybe that was just the poison in my veins. I dozed most of the time because otherwise everything was swirling. Later, the group told me the following story of their adventures while I was poisoned.

A couple of hours out of the Dim Forest, I started twitching and appeared more sick. Armaziti stopped the group and rememorized the slow poison spell, casting it again, then rememorized two slow poison spells. In the meantime, everyone ate dinner before continuing the hurried march back to Orlane. About an hour out of the Dim Forest, I appeared even more sick. Armaziti cast another slow poison spell on me, and again when we were about 3 hours away from Orlane. It was the middle of the night when we got to the town and the group headed to the Temple of Merikka and started pounding on the gates. A guard approached and hurried to get Priestess Misha, who came running to the gate, grabbed me, and ran into the temple.

The party then abandoned me to my fate (certain that the priestess would cure me, of course) and went to the slumbering Serpent. They were surprised to find it was full, but were allowed to sleep in the common room. Everyone slept deeply from the march and did not awake until 11am. After breakfast, they returned to the temple and found me sleeping on a cot, snoring loudly. That part I know was a lie because my sisters all snore but I most certainly do not! Priestess Misha said that I nearly died, but she was able to heal the poison and would only charge 200 gold pieces for her services, and I would sleep for another four hours.

The group then headed to the jeweler’s and he offered 1305 gold for the Gold pendant with a large pearl and the Golden chalice with multicolor gems. Ramne was also summoned and he agreed to cast a spell on the skull that I had been carrying on a small leather bag on my belt. The group paid 100gp for him to evaluate it and learned that it can be used 12 times and when the magic word is said, it will cast a beam of light and potentially paralyze whatever creature it is pointed at, and it can only be used by magic users. The shopkeeper offered 4500gp for it and only Armaziti wanted to keep it, so the party voted to accept the offer.

Flush with money, party members with outstanding loans to each other quickly passed on the owed coins. When I finally recovered, I also repaid my party loan, as well as the 200gp for the cure poison potion used to save me. Overcome with regret for my impetuousness, I tried to give away the keys to prevent future mishaps, but the party insisted I keep them.

Session 52: Day 20 of Planting

It's mid-morning of day 20 of Planting and we've just had a rest after our fight with the wooden golems.  Everyone who had been injured was healed and we decided to retain our marching order from earlier.  Therefore, Arnd and Armaziti are in the lead, followed by Lhoss and Kyro.  Gnorcia and I (Tatania) are next with Adelbertus and Yldarb in the rear.  The dungeon master made some provocative comments, so just to be on the safe side, Gnorcia checked in the bag of holding and looked at the leather bag that had that creepy skull in it.  She was worried about her leather bag, and wanted to make sure the skull didn't gnaw its way out.  We don't know what it actually does, aside from being labeled "paralyzation" (according to my glasses of translation), but everything looks the same as before. She hangs the bag from her belt to keep it in sight.

We continue to explore this hallway, and the next alcove has another skull sitting on a note of some sort as well as a fancy jeweled gold chalice.  The skull looks like an ordinary human skull and the note has a burnt edge.  Lhoss pushes the skull off with her dagger to read the note.  It appears to be a crudely drawn map of the Temple of Nerul but has no new information to us.  Lhoss wants to grab the chalice, since it is so pretty and sparkly, but everyone is being cautious. Arnd uses his new sword, Bonesplitter, to nudge the chalice and dust billows up. I decide to cast my "Detect Magic" spell and have Gnorcia get close so that both skulls and the chalice are in range.  Both the new skull and the chalice are inert, but Gnorcia's skull is definitely magical in nature.  Lhoss quickly grabs the chalice and comments that she wants to "taste that rainbow" but decides to wait until mealtime to do so.

The next three alcoves appear empty but the final one has something moving in the shadows.  Lhoss bravely (or perhaps foolishly) enters the alcove and finds that it is a swarm of beetles; fortunately, they are normal in size.  Thinking quickly, she pulls out one of her oil flasks and sticks a wick in it, lighting it on fire.  When she throws it, the flask shatters and the oil splatters over the swarm.  Many of the beetles burn to death but some are still alive.  Arnd steps up and bashes the survivors with his sword, ending the potential danger.  The reek of burning beetle chitin is horrid, but luckily nobody ends up vomiting.

Lhoss enters each of the empty alcoves to ensure they really are empty, which they are.  Kyro has stayed on guard in the hallway the entire time so nothing could sneak up on us, but suddenly a loud disembodied voice yells out, "Grave Robbers!" which startles everyone.  We all look around and don't see anyone or anything new, and I yell back, "We're not grave robbers.  We're just hunting nasties!"  The others laugh at me, telling me that I'm in denial since we are most definitely robbing graves.  I reluctantly have to agree, even though I'd prefer to focus on the noble portion of our adventuring.  Since we're exiting back through the Temple of Nerul, Lhoss compares the map piece to reality and it appears to match.  She even holds up the map piece against torchlight to see if there's anything additional hidden (perhaps this is why the edge was burnt?) but nothing shows up.  We look to see if the birdlike creatures were still there, but they have gone away.  

As we're leaving the area, Lhoss notes a door that we haven't opened and is struck by the need to open it now.  She tries but isn't strong enough so Arnd opens it for her.  I think I can safely say that we all immediately wish he hadn't.  Inside the room is a bunch of cobras, and not just any cobras but spitting cobras.  Or at least the three in the front immediately spit venom towards us while the other three slither forward menacingly.  The spitters aimed for Lhoss and Arnd, and lucky for my friends, the first two miss them completely.  Unfortunately, the final one hits Lhoss in the face.  It burns at her eyes before she can wipe them clear again.  Harming Adelbertus is the goal of the moving snakes, which is kind of ironic since as a dwarf he has resistance to poison.  Not one of the three succeeds in biting him.

Arnd swings his sword at one of the spitting snakes but somehow misses it. Lhoss also tries to hit a snake, using her dagger, but the damage from the venom in her eyes probably messed up her depth perception as she also misses.  Adelbertus has much better luck and severely injures the center snake with Oddwood, his magical staff.  Yldarb swings his spear, Falstaff, only to find that what he thought was a lucky +3 spear is actually cursed; if you attack unsuccessfully with it, it will take damage out on you instead. He falls back, angry and injured. Armatzi pulls Melissa out and attempts to smash a snake with her but it wiggles out of reach before he can manage.  I fire a magic missile into the injured center snake and flay the flesh from its bones, killing it.  Kyro fires a pair of arrows from his short bow.  The first skewers a snake, eliminating it, but his second arrow crashes into the dungeon wall harmlessly. Gnorcia has a trio of darts that she attempts to use.  The first misses completely, and then the second and third hit the rightmost snake, causing a lot of damage but not finishing it off.  The left side snake attacks Adelbertus a second time and successfully bites him while the injured right side snake misses Arnd a second time.  Adelbertus bashes the snake that bit him with his staff, pounding it into paste, but then falls to the ground as the poison courses through his system.  Resistance to poison doesn't mean immunity to poison, unfortunately.

Arnd switches his sword for his snake-handled mace, hoping that it will give him luck against this foe but misses again anyway.  Armaziti comes to Adelbertus' rescue and casts his Slow Poison spell.  We are very grateful for this since nobody else can do anything to help.

Yldarb wants nothing to do with the cursed Falstaff now and tries to put it away.  He thinks he is pulling out his sword but discovers to his dismay that the curse on the spear won't allow him to put it down.  It turns out that the backbiting aspect of the curse only kicks in if an attack is unsuccessful.  Fortunately, the attack he pulled was successful and the spear slices the snake in half, proving that the +3 stat was true as far as that goes. Since I don't have any further ranged attacks, I stay back out of the way.  We are down to two snakes now, and Gnorcia goes after the larger of the two, easily slaughtering it with her magic dagger.  Lhoss fires her magic missile and the final snake explodes in a shower of gore.  

Yldarb is frustrated and disgusted with his spear.  He again tries to intentionally set it aside, but despite going through the motions, it remains in his hand. Armatzi remembers at this point that he has a potion of neutralize poisons and he hurriedly gives it to Adelbertus.  The potion works its magic quickly and when Adelbertus is completely healed, he goes ahead and heals the backstab wounds on Yldarb while Armaziti heals the poison burns from Lhoss' face and eyes.  Gnorcia take the opportunity to search the snake room but comes back empty-handed.  What a waste of time!  In annoyance, we toss the snake bodies back into the room and shut the door again.

Yldarb really wants to get rid of the spear now, so we go back to the burial alcoves where he found it.  It's no use, he still can't release it.  Somebody, I don't remember who, came up with the idea to use one of the heavy metal doors that were controlled by the three switches that we'd encountered earlier to trap the spear so maybe Yldarb could walk away from it.  Everyone agrees this is as good an idea as any, so we go and place the spear on the floor under the open door.  I try to hold the spear in place so that Yldarb's fingers aren't underneath the spear when the door comes crashing down on it, but it seems that the spear has more of a mental hold on him than we'd thought because as soon as the switches were thrown to close the door, Yldarb snatches the spear out of the line of danger before it can be hit.  It is decided that the best chance we have of getting rid of the spear (or at least the curse on it) is to head back to Orlane.

By this time, everyone is feeling a bit hungry.  We decide to go to Polis's shrine to have our lunch.  On the way, we clean up the mess of dead froglings that were left in the hallway, placing them in some burial alcoves but without any ceremony.  When we get to Polis's shrine, Lhoss uses a bit of her water to rinse the fancy jeweled chalice clean and then uses it for her drink with the meal.  She says that she feels very Queen-like to have such a sparkly cup.  As we finish our lunch, we hear voices in the hallway outside speaking in common.  As a quick precaution, everyone takes a turn standing on Polis's plinth to gain his blessing of +1 to hit.

It is fortunate that we took that precaution because when Gnorcia (being fastest) exits the room, she finds that there are 9 members of the Black Hand coming toward us.  Four of them attack with short swords, two of them hitting and two of them missing.  The other five band members stay back to watch and wait.  Kyro and I jump out of the room and attack, him with his long sword and I with Sylvia (my magic silver dagger).  Despite our enthusiasm, we both miss our targets.  Lhoss tosses her second magic missile but it does minimal damage.  This is all disheartening, but Yldarb swings his cursed staff and luckily hits.  Adelbertus barrels into one attacker with his shield and bashes him into another Black Hand member.  The guy that was hit initially had several bones break and the other guy was beat up pretty well too.  Arnd throws a flask of burning oil at the back flank, killing two immediately, leaving a third incapacitated and cutting the final two off from their mates.  They watch as Armatzi defeats one of the remaining four in front of the flames using Melissa, and they run away from the battle, abandoning the others.  The three that are left apparently decide they want to get away too, so they try to retreat.  Armatzi and Melissa take care of one, Gnorcia gets the second, and the third is so scared that he foolishly attempts to run through the wall of flames, immolating himself.  He never had a chance.  Finally, there is nothing left to do but loot the corpses.  OK, fine.  I admit it.  I'm a bit of a grave robber, although this isn't technically grave robbing since these guys were never buried to begin with. 

Session 51: Day 19 of Planting (evening) and the morning of Day 20

Arnd, Armaziti, Chiki, Gnorcia, Kyro, Lhoss, and Tatania ate a quick dinner and memorized spells in preparation for further adventuring. Tonight's goal was to retrace our steps to the temple of Nerul in an attempt to pick up at the location we had last explored. Some of the party had a vague memory of where we were, but it was honestly a bit of guess work to get to where we were going. The group noticed a slime trail that had been avoided previously and decided to investigate it this time. There was a thought that it might be the same devouring green slime that the group had encountered, but this slime was a translucent gray instead of green. Lhoss dipped a skeleton femur that she had been lugging around to see if it would be devoured; it was not affected. Still, the team decided to give the slime a wide berth. 

Moving forward, Lhoss opened a door to find an animated skeleton dressed in black chain mail and wielding a sword of light. The skeleton immediately engaged with Lhoss but fortunately missed. Tatania made a stunning hit with her magic missile and Armaziti delivered the killing blow with Melissa. Lhoss examined the fallen foe and noticed the sword and armor were worth scavenging. Chiki claimed the sword which was determined to be magical and named it Toffee Sword. Kyro claimed the armor which was a significant upgrade for him.

We followed the slime trail which seemed to originate from behind a closed door. All seven of the party tried unsuccessfully to open the door. Yearning to know what was behind it, Chiki began to bash on the door with his mace. The loud noise attracted unwanted visitors. From the shadows, we heard a croaking noise. Into view appeared two frog men carrying spears. They immediately targeted the closest of us; Lhoss was able to dodge the first blow but was hit by the second. In retaliation, she hit one with a magic missile. Tatania was able to finish it off with Sylvia. Chiki itching to wield his new sword slashed the second asunder with one blow. Chiki and Toffee Sword, an auspicious paring! Unfortunately, the vigor with which Chiki slashed the frog man sent innards spraying onto Kyro which caused him to lose his most recent meal. Looking back on it, the sound and smell of the retching may have attracted the second wave of frog men...

For soon we were facing another round. Gnorcia, moving quickly, fatally slashed one with Vengeance; Chiki again showed his skill by killing another. Then with great deftness, one of the frog men stabbed Lhoss as it leapt over her. Another leapt even further to attack Armaziti. Tatania exploded another magic missile right in the abdomen of one of the foes, sending gore spraying onto Gnorcia and Arnd. There must be something particularly foul about the insides of these creatures, because Gnorcia and Arnd (who have seen plenty of blood and guts) immediately began puking. Fortunately, the fight was soon ended when Armaziti slayed the penultimate frog man and the final combatant fled. The escapee was too swift and evaded our pursuits. Perhaps we will see him on another day.

Not eager to attract more attention by bashing down the door, the group made another attempt to open it. After four failed attempts, Kyro was able to force it. It was a disappointingly empty room. But the group thought it could serve as a relatively safe place to heal, memorize spells, and get the fitful type of rest one does in the barrowmaze. Fortunately, it was an uneventful night.

In the morning, after a hurried breakfast, the group managed to find our way back to the room of switches. We quickly opened the south door and made our way cautiously into the temple of Nerul. The vicious birds we had previously encountered were gone. Sensing the evil of the place, we hurried on to the spot where Lhoss had gone insane. At last we could pick up where we had left off. 

We passed the western pit and came upon a series of alcoves. The first contained the remains of a human in armor. The walls, floor and ceiling were covered in a yellow mold. The deceased's armor was rusty and no good, but Arnd claimed the long sword Bone Splitter that is especially useful against the undead (a boon in this gloomy place). Chiki lingered in the room, examining the yellow mold. Though he knew that the mold was dangerous and asphyxiated those unfortunate enough to come into contact with it, still he paced around the room. It was faithful ChickChick, digging her claws into Chiki's shoulder that finally caused him to flee.

The second alcove contained a wooden bowl with 10 platinum, a pair of bone dice, and an astrolabe that could prognosticate the weather. Chiki took the astrolabe, the platinum was split amongst the group, and Gnorcia stealthily pocketed the dice.

The third alcove revealed a gold skull perched on a pedestal. Its black opal gems inset as eyes made for an intimidating figure! An inscription of "dlohnoitisop" could be read on the base of the skull. I say read, but it didn't make sense to any of us. Luckily, Tatania recalled her glasses that allow her to read other languages. The closest translation that she could approximate was "paralysis". That seemed ominous! But of course we couldn't pass up such a treasure, so Gnorcia deftly tipped the skull into a bag without touching it. It was noted that the base of the skull was silver.

The next alcove presented an interesting tableau: a skeleton flanked by two wooden statues. Chiki was deeply interested in the statues and made a valiant attempt to carry one off. As it was 200 pounds or more, he was struggling to inch it along. For who knows what reason, he decided to draw his sword and strike at the first statue. Immediately, the two figures animated and attacked Chiki, dealing serious damage. Kyro moved to withdraw Chiki from the battle, but Lhoss called out that such an action would leave Chiki vulnerable to attacks. Kyro decided it was worthwhile anyway and pulled Chiki away from the statues. As predicted, the statues viciously slashed Chiki, leaving him bleeding out and on death's door. With a huff of indignation at being proven right at so high a cost, Lhoss rushed over to bind up Chiki's wounds. One of the statues attacked Arnd, and in an act of vengeance with Vengeance (and using a move she had observed from the frog men), Gnorcia leapfrogged over the top to backstab it. Two magic missiles from our magic users and one arrow from Kyro later and the second statue was defeated. Our valiant healer Armaziti brought Chiki back from the brink causing Gnorcia to remark "Chiki, you're awfully small to be so hugely irritating!"

Session 50: Day 19 of planting, return to Barrowmaze

The party had arrived back in Barrowmaze during the late afternoon, and approached the barrow that has the entrance. There was some concern about the wolves that had been heard before, but nothing was seen of them. The visibility was poor due to mist and rain. 

The group quickly traced their steps to the pillared room, and found bodies of the band of the black hand disturbed. These were the dead bodies that the party had slain more than a week before. They had the appearance of being half eaten by something grotesque. 

The party travelled further to the alcove of the god Solis, and several of them followed the procedure to obtain a blessing. A secret door was then found, revealing several animated skeletons that attacked. At first the party thought that they were normal skeletons, but when they were slain, they exploded. Armatzi recalled from his clerical training that they are known as "exploding bones". 

Another secret door was found after the battle, revealing a stragely presrved white body. The body was uncanny. It was hard to determine if that was the natuarl skin, or if it had been painted - it was flaking off in parts. A gold pendant with a large pearl was around the bodies neck. Lhoss attempted to claim the staff, and it fell in a most unnatural way. It was also seen that it eyes and lips were of a darkened color as well. Lhoss managed to obtain the pendant. 

The group left, obtaining new blessings from Polis before moving on. They returned to the large open room, with an altar at the northern area. The altar was examined more closely, and it was covered with dry blood. The deity of the altar couldn't be determined. There was a fading fresco behind the altar that was also inscrutable. 

Adjacent to this room on the west was the room that a dead mongrelman had been found. This corpse had also been partially consumed and dismembered. Tatania and Gnorcia moved the corpse and remains to the alcoves in the room, and Tatania used some of her water to clean up the mess on the floor. The group then ate dinner and memorized/prayed for new spells in that room.